


The Most Wonderful Person in the World

by tuppenny



Series: All Ways [5]
Category: Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, mention of parental death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-05
Updated: 2018-06-05
Packaged: 2019-05-18 12:11:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14852513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tuppenny/pseuds/tuppenny
Summary: In which David comforts his wife.





	The Most Wonderful Person in the World

**Late April 1912**

David was bent over the small desk in the one-room tenement apartment he shared with his wife. They’d lived with David’s parents and Sarah’s family for the first month of their marriage, and they’d seriously considered continuing that arrangement, but after three weeks of constant togetherness, the two of them had privately agreed that three rooms for ten people was simply not going to work. 

Then they’d moved in with Chaya’s father, intending to live with him for at least the next month. Perhaps permanently. It took only a week for that to change, though; after David came home every night for a week to find his wife unwilling to talk until after her father had gone to bed, he invented a job for her uptown, said he simply wouldn’t permit his wife to commute that far every day, and moved them to an entirely different neighborhood.

The place they had now was tiny and dingy, but the rent was cheap, and Chaya could work miracles with scrap fabric and fresh flowers. They’d agreed it was plenty big enough for two, and the cheery curtains she’d made were quite appealing, and they certainly drew your eye away from the water stains and warped boards, and really, they weren’t home that often, so why worry about the rats in the walls or the lack of running water…. It was fine. No worse than where they’d grown up, and much more conveniently located, too, especially now that Chaya had landed a real uptown job instead of merely pretending to have one. 

David rubbed his eyes in the dim light—his desk lamp wasn’t the best—and realized he was hungry. He stretched, his back making a satisfying crack as he leaned backwards, and turned to see where in the room Chaya was to ask if she was hungry, too. But the room was empty. He shrugged; they both tended to fall into episodes of hyperfocus and lose track of the world around them. She’d probably gone out to do the shopping, or down the hall to the bathroom, or any number of things. He wasn’t worried.

Indeed, she came back in a half hour later, a book in her hand. Ah. The library. He should have guessed—his wife was always on the hunt for a good book.

“Hello,” David said, smiling brightly from his spot at the kitchen table, where he was putting the finishing touches on a cheese sandwich. “Do you want one?”

She shook her head and crossed to the bed, lowering herself gently onto the mattress.

“What are you reading?”

She blinked and looked bemusedly at the book in her hand. “Did I go to the library?”

He chuckled. “You must have. Either that or you’ve started robbing bookstores.” He pulled his eyebrows together ever so briefly when she didn’t laugh along with him and then set the bread knife down. “Chaya?”

She met his eyes but didn’t speak.

“Are you alright?”

She nodded. “I’m pregnant.”

A chill ran through David’s body at the sound of those three syllables. This was it, then—the moment their lives changed forever. Was he ready? Was she? They’d wanted this—they’d been trying for a baby since January, they’d begun wondering whose eyes and smile and nose their little one would have, they’d been disappointed when Chaya continued to have her monthlies, but… wanting something to happen didn’t mean you were ready for it when it came.

“Well?” She asked, squeezing the book tightly.

“Wow.” He leaned back against the kitchen counter and pressed a hand to his forehead. “I… Wow.”

“I feel the same way,” she said, her accent coming through more strongly than usual, and he was grateful that she wasn’t upset at his understated reaction. 

“How far along are you?”

She pursed her lips. “Two months, I think.”

He felt a surge of excitement build within him, and his entire face lit up. “Oh my goodness, Chayele—we’re going to be parents!” He exclaimed, finally beginning to process the news. She gave him a tentative smile in return, and, seeing her uncertainty, he walked over to the bed, sank down next to her, and wrapped her in a bear hug. She leaned in to rest her head on his shoulder, but her hands remained gripped firmly around the book in her lap. “I love you,” he said, pressing a kiss to her curls and grinning into her hair. 

She nodded and pulled the book flush against her stomach. They sat like that for a minute, with David gently rubbing Chaya’s right arm as she stared at the wall. “Dovid?” 

“Mmm?”

“I miss my mother.”

David tugged her in even closer and kissed her head once more.

“She would have been so happy,” Chaya sighed. “Her first granddaughter…” 

David raised an eyebrow, even though he knew Chaya couldn’t see it from this angle. “Her first granddaughter?”

“You know that my sister has only boys,” Chaya said, fully aware that that wasn’t what he meant.

“And we won’t?”

“No,” Chaya said, running her thumb hand up and down the back cover of the library book. “This baby is a girl.”

“Well, we can name her after your mother, then,” David suggested, closing his eyes and deciding not to point out that they could just as easily be having a boy. “Miriam is a beautiful name.” 

She bit her lip and looked down at the book. It was a white hardcover, small enough to read in an evening, and the title was carefully embossed in blue capital letters. _Candide_ , it said _._ She might have enjoyed it, she thought, but for some reason she’d checked out the original version. In French. Chaya sighed. She couldn’t remember going to the library and picking this out, which meant she must have been ridiculously distracted. It was a shame she hadn’t been paying better attention; if she had been, she might’ve chosen something in a language she could actually read. “ _Hertsey_ ,” Chaya said, finally shifting to look up at him. “Are you upset with me?” 

“No,” Davey said, reopening his eyes. “Why would I be?” 

“I don’t know.” Chaya cupped the side of his face and smiled slightly as David leaned into her touch. “Well, no. I do. I would understand if you were upset; our lives are going to change.” 

“This is a good change, though,” David said, reaching up to keep her hand pressed to his cheek. “We wanted this.”

“Yes, but I’m still sad,” she said, her eyes beginning to well as she looked up at her kind, quiet husband. “I… Dovid, I wish I did not have to do this without my mother. There are so many things I want to ask her, so many things that she is going to miss, and I...” She blinked furiously and rubbed the corners of her eyes. “I just… I wish…” 

He didn’t know what to say or how to help her; all he could do was hope she could see the concern in his expression and feel the love in his touch. 

“I feel so alone,” she confessed, the first wave of tears spilling from her endlessly dark eyes. “I’m lucky to have Golda, and I know that, and she’ll be overjoyed about the baby, and she’ll be happy to help, but…” Chaya lowered her head and covered her face in her hands. “Oh, Dovid, I’m being very selfish, but… sisters are not the same as mothers.”

David kissed the top of her head once more and fumbled for the right words. “I can’t ever know what this feels like for you,” he said slowly, his heart aching for his wife even as it thrilled with joy over his unborn child. “But,” he said, taking a deep breath, “I do know that you’re not alone. Not now, not ever. I love you so much that it scares me sometimes, _neshama;_ until I met you, I didn’t know it was possible to feel like this. To care so strongly about someone that… that you’d die for them. But for you? I would do that. For you, Chayele… for you I’d give up everything I am, everything I could be.” He paused, running his tongue over his teeth, giving himself a second to make sure he had his thoughts in order. “And they say… they say that there is no love as strong as the love of a mother for her child, so the love your mother felt for you… it must have been overwhelming. It must have been able to move mountains.” 

He stopped again, feeling Chaya lean into his chest and nod. “It was. And to lose such a love... It… I… Well. It is not easy.”

David gave a sad smile, thinking of his wife’s mother, of this brave, wonderful woman he would never get to meet, the woman who had left her homeland in order to protect her daughters, the woman who had given him the love of his life. “Chaya, I think that… Well, surely that kind of love, something so vast, so fierce… Surely it can’t just vanish?” 

Chaya jerked away from him. “She is _dead_ , David,” she snapped. “Dead and gone. So don’t you dare tell me that she is a star watching over me. Do not tell me that the wind wraps me in my mother’s arms or say that when the tide rolls in it whispers my name in her voice. Do not give me those lies. Do not try to make yourself feel better by making me feel worse. She is gone, David. And that is that.” 

“I know,” David said calmly. “But think about how you walk through the world, Chayele. Think of the way you will love our child. Think of how you care for me. Your mother is in all of that, isn’t she? The love and strength and instruction she gave you—that shaped you, didn’t it?”

“Yes,” she said, her voice much softer now. 

He gave her a gentle smile. “Her love helped you become who you are, _perakh._ And even though she is long gone, her love still guides you, I think.” 

Chaya managed a jerky nod. “Yes.” 

“Then she is still with you. Not in the way I wish she were, and not in the way you want her to be, but… you are not alone, _yafa sheli_. And you never will be. I promise.”

Chaya made a strangled noise and flung her arms around her husband, letting the library book slide down her lap and thump onto the floor.

David felt his heart break just a little bit. “Shh, my dove. Shh, _duvshanit_. It’s okay, Chayele. You’re going to be okay. Shhhh, mhmm, oh, my darling, shhh…” David held her tightly and rocked her back and forth as she clung to him, weeping into his chest. 

After a while her tears subsided, but she remained cradled in his warmth, her halo of flyaway curls tickling his neck and chin as he rested his head on hers. He loved moments like this, the moments when she wanted his touch, when he could listen to her soft breaths and hold her weight in his lap. He was used to defending others with his thoughts and his voice, but up until Chaya, he’d never been able to shield anyone physically, and it was something he savored.

Men like Jack, men like Spot—they were physical beings, tough and tactile, seemingly always ready to throw a punch and fight their way out of trouble. David, though—David had never felt at home in himself in that way. Despite being taller than most children his age and comparatively well-nourished, he’d always been hopeless at protecting himself and his siblings when scuffles broke out in the street or the schoolyard.

But with Chaya… He made her feel safe. He didn’t even have to try; all he had to do was be there. Every time he enveloped her in a hug, placed a hand on her shoulder, or dipped his head to kiss her, he made her feel more secure. And every time he saw her relax at his touch, every time he felt her shoulders loosen in response to his hand, every time he heard her release a long-held breath as he stood between her and a surly shopkeeper, he stood a little straighter and felt a little stronger. He never ceased to be amazed at the fact that someone so capable and independent found comfort in his presence, and he never ceased to treasure up the moments where she allowed him to be her rock. Her trust in him was a gift, and he would spend the rest of his life trying not to let her down. 

“I love you, Dovid,” Chaya whispered, taking one of his hands and lifting it to her lips for a kiss. “My _b’shert_.”

He squeezed her hand tightly and felt her squeeze back. “I love you, too, darling. And I can’t wait to meet our little Mirele,” he said. 

Chaya snuggled into him and smiled. “If she is at all like her father, she will be the most wonderful person in the world.”

David laughed. “Well, only one person at a time can be the most wonderful person in the world, right? But don’t worry—I’ll be happy to give her my title as soon as she’s born.” 

“Oh, _neshama_ ,” she said sleepily, her eyes drifting closed, “It will be a tie.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Neshama—soul
> 
> Hertsey—Yiddish for dear heart
> 
> Perakh—Hebrew for flower
> 
> Yafa sheli—Hebrew for my beauty
> 
> Duvshanit—Hebrew for honey
> 
> Mirele is a pet name for Miriam
> 
> B’shert (Hebrew) is like destiny/fate—the person you were simply meant to be with.
> 
> Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday, dear Pigeon, happy birthday to you! <3 May this year bring you all sorts of lovely adventures and satisfying scientific projects!


End file.
